County calls for audit into appropriation of money for debt waivers

Meru coffee farmers have raised concerns over the mode of distributing money given out by the national government to clear debts.

Speaking during a stakeholder’s forum, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said the government had given out Sh9.5 billion for debt waiver to coffee cooperatives.

The county's executive in charge of cooperatives, Ntoitha M’Mithiaru, said there is need for a forensic audit on how the money was spent.

"The county government has very scanty information on how the waiver money was given and spent. There is a lot of disquiet among members of societies who never benefitted from the funds," he said.

Mr M’Mithiaru said there were claims that the money given to some societies was withdrawn from banks by individuals.

"There is need for the government to audit the money and establish how individuals could access it from banks. Farmers are getting messages from the Cooperative Bank to collect the title deeds used as collateral yet there was no information on how the debts were cleared," Mr M’Mithiaru said.

The head of Coffee Directorate Greenville Melly said they were reviewing the beneficiaries of the waiver.

"We are looking at the genuine societies to benefit from the waiver. We will be through with the process by March. We want to know the status of the loans in the societies," Mr Melly said.

Records from the county government indicate that societies in Meru received Sh437 million for the waiver.

The societies that benefited include Dhabiti Sacco (Sh80.2 million), Meru North Cooperative Union (Sh35.8 million), Capital Sacco (Sh90.7 million), Meru Central Dairy Cooperative union (Sh103.7 million), Meru Central multipurpose Cooperative Society (Sh62.4 million) and Ntiminyakiru Sacco (Sh64.8 million).